Another View: Et tu, Louisiana?

University of Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson passes over Louisiana State defensive end Sam Montgomery last season.

"To me, our LSU game at the end of the year is one of the traditions, of very few, that we've established since coming into the SEC. That's something that, playing them at the end of the season, is a tradition that we would like to hold on to." --Jeff Long, athletic director, University of Arkansas.

The respected Jeff Long made that comment last year. Back then, there was a nasty rumor going around about the annual Arkansas-LSU football game, ritual and habit. Some folks were saying that the game would no longer be the last regular match-up of the season for both teams. That way, Louisiana State could establish a new rivalry with some school from Texas with an A and an M in its name. And that the traditional LSU-Arkansas end-of-season climax would have to be moved from Thanksgiving weekend to some less festive time of the year. Tradition be damned, or at least sacked for a loss.

By now you know that's just what happened. There are more sports commentators - professional, amateur and just off-the-cuff - than orange cats in this state. And it seems every one of them has been heard from these past few days. The news of the treachery has been broadcast from border to border, from the Mississippi to the Red -- and it's still the talk of the state, Fayetteville to Lake Village.

Oh, tell it not in Gath, publish it not in Ashkelon. Or in Damascus or Thebes, for that matter-the ones in Arkansas.

Oh, perfidious Louisiana! The weeping and wailing can be heard far and wide. Imagine - a time-honored, not to say sacred, tradition has been abandoned for something as trivial as . . . money. Which is the root of all professional sports - and if college football isn't technically professional, it displays the same interest in cold cash.

Much like the schools involved, which keep raising tuition even while poor-mouthing about their fiscal condition, all the while repeating their mantra about the over-riding importance of, yes, education. At least when their top dogs aren't Calling the Hawgs/Red Wolves/ Muleriders in crowded stadia.

Welcome to Rome, aka modern America. The pagan similarities are not entirely coincidental.

Of course LSU wants to play A&M on national television on a day when that game will be the marquee matchup. Texas is a lot bigger state than Arkansas-you can look it up-and the TV people want to increase their Market Share, the holy grail of that not yet antiquated medium.

Of course the new kid on the block, or at least the new team in the conference - Texas A&M- - obbied to get a prime spot on national television against a tough opponent, one that could be a national champion this and every year.

P.S. ... Big-time games also help with recruiting. So all and all, it was only a matter of time before LSU made other plans for Thanksgiving.

Of course the decision to move the games all came down to money and TV revenue. Did anybody think it wouldn't?

What can Arkansas do about it?

How about just calming down, if that wouldn't be unspeakably adult? Don't worry, sports-gabbers on radio-and-TV: Your beloved Razorbacks will still get their shot at LSU and A&M each and every year. They're in our division. Contrary to popular legend, the best revenge isn't living well, it's beatin' them suckers on the field.

So now the plan is for Arkansas to play Missouri at the end of the year. This could be the start of something beautiful-a match with the other Tigers, the ones just north of us. Nobody said that the school with those awful cheers that stick with you like bad gumbo (Hot boudin! Cold couscous! Come on Tigers! Poosh, poosh, poosh!) decides who gets the best bowl games every year. The football gods, a fickle lot, might just decide that the end of this tradition means LSU goes 3-9 this year. And maybe 2-10 the next. (We can dream, can't we?)

Besides, Mizzou is better company anyway. Anybody want to split gas for a road trip to Columbia? We can all tramp, tramp, tramp around the Columns together on the red campus and cheer for Old . . . Main! Before adjourning for a libation. This is supposed to be a sport, remember?

--Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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Another View: Et tu, Louisiana?

'To me, our LSU game at the end of the year is one of the traditions, of very few, that we've established since coming into the SEC. That's something that, playing them at the end of the season, is a